The present invention relates to a method of packing a group of products.
The present invention may be used to advantage on bottle cartoning machines, to which the following description refers purely by way of example.
On known machines for cartoning groups of bottles, such as the machine disclosed, for example, in EP-A1-786407, a group of bottles is fed along a packing path and eased onto a central portion of a cardboard blank, which is fed, parallel to the path, underneath and in time with the group. Once the group rests completely on the blank, the blank is folded against the group to define a package enclosing the group.
In the aforementioned known bottle cartoning machines, the cardboard blank is fed parallel to and underneath the packing path by pushing means, which engage a rear end of the blank at an output of a store for storing blanks and push such blank along a supply path to a supply station located at a point at which the supply path and the packing path meet.
However, once extracted from store, a blank may warp and would therefore require push members having relatively large pushing surfaces to ensure that the blank is engaged and pushed correctly. Owing to their transverse dimensions, such push members would pose various problems of interference with the group conveyor at the supply station.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of packing a group of products, designed to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks and which, at the same time, is cheap and easy to implement.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method of packing a group of products; the method comprising the steps of feeding said group of products along a packing path; feeding a blank underneath said group, in time with the group and along a supply path joining up with said packing path, so as to ease said group onto a central portion of said blank; and subsequently folding at least one further portion of the blank along a peripheral band line of said central portion; the method being characterized in that said blank is drawn along said supply path.
Preferably, said blank is fed along said supply path by means of a gripper, which engages a front end of the blank at an output of a store for storing blanks and is fed along the supply path to a supply station located at a point at which the supply path and the packing path meet.
The present invention also relates to a machine for packing a group of products.
According to the present invention, there is provided a machine for packing a group of products; the machine comprising conveying means for feeding said group of products along a packing path; supply means for feeding a blank underneath said group, in time with the group and along a supply path joining up with said packing path, so as to ease said group onto a central portion of said blank; and folding means for subsequently folding at least one further portion of the blank along a peripheral bend line of said central portion; the machine being characterized in that said supply means comprise at least one gripper for engaging a front end of said blank; and a first conveyor for feeding said gripper along said supply path and through a pickup station located at an output of a store for storing blanks, and through a following supply station located at a point at which said supply path and said packing path meet.
Preferably, the machine as set forth above further comprises pressing means for pressing said group with a given pressure against the blank as said further portion of the blank is being folded; said pressing means comprising a belt located over said packing path, conveying means for feeding said belt parallel to said packing path and in time with the group, and a fixed pressure plate mating in sliding manner with said belt to keep the belt contacting the group with said given pressure.